Circular Birefringence Research Articles

Universal compensation of the non-reciprocal circular birefringence in a retracing path by a mirrored quarter-wave plate

A quarter-wave plate combined with a mirror realizes a pure rotator on the reflected beam, hence it realizes the same polarization transformation of a Porro prism, which has been recently demonstrated as a universal compensator for the non-reciprocal circular birefringence present in a retracing path. In the present work, the mirrored quarter-wave plate has been experimentally proved to effectively compensate for the non-reciprocal circular birefringence introduced by a variable Faraday rotator.

Specular optical activity of achiral metasurfaces

Optical activity in 3D-chiral media in the form of circular dichroism and birefringence is a fundamental phenomenon that serves as evidence of life forms and is widely used in spectroscopy. Even in 3D-chiral media exhibiting strong transmission optical activity, the reflective effect is weak and sometimes undetectable. Here, we report that specular optical activity at structured interfaces can be very strong. Resonant polarization rotation reaching 25° and reflectivity contrast exceeding 50% for oppositely circularly polarized waves are observed for microwaves reflected by a metasurface with structural elements lacking two-fold rotational symmetry. The effect arises at oblique incidence from a 3D-chiral arrangement of the wave's direction and the metasurface's structure that itself does not possess chiral elements. Specular optical activity of such magnitude is unprecedented. It is fundamentally different from the polarization effects occurring upon scattering, reflection, and transmission from surfaces with 2D-chiral patterns. The scale of the effect allows applications in polarization sensitive devices and surface spectroscopies.

Current sensing using circularly birefringent twisted solid-core photonic crystal fiber.

Continuously twisted solid-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) exhibits pure circular birefringence (optical activity), making it ideal for current sensors based on the Faraday effect. By numerical analysis, we identify the PCF geometry for which the circular birefringence (which scales linearly with twist rate) is a maximum. For silica-air PCF, this occurs at a shape parameter (diameter-to-spacing ratio of the hollow channels) of 0.37 and a scale parameter (spacing-to-wavelength) of 1.51. This result is confirmed experimentally by testing a range of different structures. To demonstrate the effectiveness of twisted PCF as a current sensor, a length of fiber is placed on the axis of a 7.6 cm long solenoid, and the Faraday rotation is measured at different values of dc current. The system is then used to chart the wavelength dependence of the Verdet constant.

Jones-matrix mapping of complex degree of mutual anisotropy of birefringent protein networks during the differentiation of myocardium necrotic changes.

The azimuthally stable method of Jones-matrix mapping of histological sections of myocardium tissue biopsy using spatial-frequency selection of the mechanisms of linear and circular birefringence is proposed. Correlation parameter-the complex degree of mutual anisotropy-and its diagnostic application are analytically substantiated. The method of measuring the complex degree of mutual-anisotropy coordinate distributions using spatial filtration of their high- and low-frequency components is developed. The interconnections between such distributions and parameters of linear and circular birefringence of myocardium tissue histological sections are defined. The comparative investigations of coordinate distributions of the complex degree of mutual anisotropy formed by fibrillar networks of myocardium tissues of different necrotic states (dead due to coronary heart disease and acute coronary insufficiency) are performed. The values and ranges of change of the statistical (moments of the first-fourth order) parameters of coordinate distributions of the complex degree of mutual anisotropy are defined. The objective criteria of cause of death differentiation are determined.

Corneal birefringence measured by spectrally resolved Mueller matrix ellipsometry and implications for non-invasive glucose monitoring.

A good understanding of the corneal birefringence properties is essential for polarimetric glucose monitoring in the aqueous humor of the eye. Therefore, we have measured complete 16-element Mueller matrices of single-pass transitions through nine porcine corneas in-vitro, spectrally resolved in the range 300…1000 nm. These ellipsometric measurements have been performed at several angles of incidence at the apex and partially at the periphery of the corneas. The Mueller matrices have been decomposed into linear birefringence, circular birefringence (i.e. optical rotation), depolarization, and diattenuation. We found considerable circular birefringence, strongly increasing with decreasing wavelength, for most corneas. Furthermore, the decomposition revealed significant dependence of the linear retardance (in nm) on the wavelength below 500 nm. These findings suggest that uniaxial and biaxial crystals are insufficient models for a general description of the corneal birefringence, especially in the blue and in the UV spectral range. The implications on spectral-polarimetric approaches for glucose monitoring in the eye (for diabetics) are discussed.

Medición de la actividad óptica de la sacarosa para la construcción de un glucómetro

A study of the optical activity of the sucrose is presented as a basis for the construction of an optical glucometer. It features an infrared laser diode whose emission passes through a water/sugar sample solution at different concentrations. In an elliptical representation, the results show that circular birefringence favors right circular polarization. Subsequent work aims at finding the behavior in blood samples.

Influence of birefringence in the instability spectra of oppositely directed coupler with negative index material channel

A theoretical investigation on the influence of birefringence in the modulational instability (MI) spectra of an oppositely directed coupler (ODC) with a negative index material (NIM) channel is presented. We study the effect of birefringence on MI in linear and circular birefringent ODCs for both normal and anomalous dispersion regimes. It is found that besides the instability band due to nonlinear positive index material (PIM) and negative index material (NIM) channels, new symmetric instability regions are observed as a result of birefringent effects. Also defocusing nonlinearity suppresses the NIM band in the normal dispersion regime, but in the anomalous dispersion regime the defocusing nonlinearity enhances the gain of the NIM band. In contrast to the case of linear birefringence, in terms of MI gain from circular birefringence, only two birefringent bands dominate: the inherently PIM and NIM bands. This preponderance is attributed to the fact that the cross-phase modulation effect for the case of circular birefringence is stronger, thus allowing a better coupling between the beams, which results in the enhancement of the gain. Therefore, the manipulation of MI and solitons in an ODC is better performed when the birefringence is circular rather than linear. Here we report how to generate and manipulate MI and solitons in birefringent ODCs with a particular emphasis on a NIM channel.

Controlling the interactions of space-variant polarization beams with rubidium vapor using external magnetic fields.

Space variant beams are of great importance for a variety of applications that have emerged in recent years. As such, manipulation of their degrees of freedom is highly desired. Here, we study the general interaction of space variant beams with a magnetically influenced Rb medium exploiting the atoms versatile properties in terms of frequency and intensity dependent circular dichroism and circular birefringence. We present the particular cases of radially polarized and hybrid polarized beams where the control of the polarization states is demonstrated experimentally. Moreover, we show that such an atomic system can be used as a tunable analyzer for space variant beams. Finally, exploiting the non-linear properties of Rb vapor, we show that we can control the circular birefringence all optically, and thus modulate the polarization of the radial polarized beam.

Polarization-phase images of liquor polycrystalline films in determining time of death.

An optical model for generalized optical anisotropy of polycrystalline networks of albumin and globulin liquor of the human brain has been suggested. The polarization-phase method for spatial and frequency differentiation of linear and circular birefringence coordinate distributions has been analytically substantiated. A set of criteria documenting the dynamics of polarization-phase images of liquor polycrystalline films has been identified in determining time of death.

A universal compensator for polarization changes induced by non-reciprocal circular birefringence on a retracing beam

In this communication we recognize that it is possible to cancel out the effects of the non-reciprocal circular birefringence on a retracing beam. The experimental results demonstrate that a linearly polarized beam is returned into an orthogonal state after retracing through a variable Faraday rotator, by exploiting the reflective action of a Porro prism with edge at 45° with respect to the initial polarization axis, for any amount of non-reciprocal Faraday rotation.

Single all-optical platform for measurement of twist and transverse stress using polarization modulation in distinct dual-mode fiber placed in a Sagnac loop.

We report here the experimental demonstration of measurement of both twist and transverse stress using polarization modulation in a single all-fiber circuit consisting of a single-mode fiber (SMF)/dual-mode fiber (DMF) in a Sagnac interferometer (SI) loop. The SMF-SI prototype setup is seen to be suitable for precise measurement of twist over a broad range of ±50° and transverse stress up to 5 N with a sensitivity as high as 2.85×10(6) pW/° and 2.08×10(7) pW/N, respectively. It is envisaged that nearly ideal operation for twist measurement can be achieved by appropriately selecting the operating domain (pretwisted Sagnac loop for practical realization of the device) and required magnitude of applied transverse stress (weight yielding maximum sensitivity). Unlike SMF-SI, a DMF assisted SI exhibits asymmetric transmittance yielding a peak shift (∼45°) in addition to falling/rising peak amplitude of effective power(∼20 μW). This key characteristic is further utilized for tunable measurement of torsion (unidirectional from -70° to 40°) while keeping the sensitivity fixed. This research problem is then analyzed on the avenue of theoretical consideration and using classical polarization optics; we have derived the Jones birefringence matrix that accurately describes the transmission behavior of the configured fiber circuit (SMF-SI and DMF-SI) for each of the three cases, namely, transverse stress, twist, and both twist and transverse stress. Series of experimental measurements for various conditions of induced birefringence (linear/circular) were performed at length, and the results were compared with those determined theoretically towards configuring a twist and stress measuring device. The study provides an understanding of the underlying physics of dual-mode interference in a Sagnac configuration experiencing linear and circular birefringence.

Optical detection of glucose concentration in samples with scattering particles.

An optical-based method is proposed for measuring the glucose concentration of samples containing scattering particles. In the proposed approach, a Stokes-Mueller reflection-based polarimetry technique is used to solve the Mueller matrices of a turbid glucose sample with circular birefringence and depolarization properties given six incident lights with different polarization states. Using an error function defined as the difference between the simulated output Stokes vectors and the experimental ones, a genetic algorithm is used to inversely derive the optical rotation and depolarization parameters of the experimental sample corresponding to the glucose concentration and scattering depolarization effect, respectively. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated using glucose samples containing 0.02 ml and 0.04 ml lipofundin, respectively.

Highly efficient hyperentanglement concentration with two steps assisted by quantum swap gates.

We present a two-step hyperentanglement concentration protocol (hyper-ECP) for polarization-spatial hyperentangled Bell states based on the high-capacity character of hyperentanglement resorting to the swap gates, which is used to obtain maximally hyperentangled states from partially hyperentangled pure states in long-distance quantum communication. The swap gate, which is constructed with the giant optical circular birefringence (GOCB) of a diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center embedded in a photonic crystal cavity, can be used to transfer the information in one degree of freedom (DOF) between photon systems. By transferring the useful information between hyperentangled photon pairs, more photon pairs in maximally hyperentangled state can be obtained in our hyper-ECP, and the success probability of the hyper-ECP is greatly improved. Moreover, we show that the high-fidelity quantum gate operations can be achieved by mapping the infidelities to heralded losses even in the weak coupling regime.

Effect of waist diameter and twist on tapered asymmetrical dual-core fiber MZI filter.

A compact in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) filter fabricated from custom-designed asymmetrical dual-core fiber is numerically analyzed in detail and experimentally verified. The asymmetrical dual-core fiber has core diameters and a core pitch of 6.9, 6, and 19.9 μm, respectively. The fiber tapering technique is introduced to fuse the originally uncoupled cores into strong coupling tapered regions. The length and diameter of the waist region have a close impact on the splitting ratio, which further affects the spectral properties of the MZI filter. The field evolution with varied waist parameters is characterized by the finite element method and beam propagation method. Repeatable comb filters with ∼15 dB extinction ratio are successfully achieved under the guidance of simulated optimum conditions. The twist-induced circular birefringence gives rise to a retardance that causes the spectral shifts of the MZI filter. The theoretical and experimental results confirm that the relative wavelength shift is proportional to the retardance, which follows a sinc function in the limit of a large twist rate.

Time Circular Birefringence in Time-Dependent Magnetoelectric Media

Light traveling in time-dependent media has many extraordinary properties which can be utilized to convert frequency, achieve temporal cloaking, and simulate cosmological phenomena. In this paper, we focus on time-dependent axion-type magnetoelectric (ME) media, and prove that light in these media always has two degenerate modes with opposite circular polarizations corresponding to one wave vector , and name this effect “time circular birefringence” (TCB). By interchanging the status of space and time, the pair of TCB modes can appear simultaneously via “time refraction” and “time reflection” of a linear polarized incident wave at a time interface of ME media. The superposition of the two TCB modes causes the “time Faraday effect”, namely the globally unified polarization axes rotate with time. A circularly polarized Gaussian pulse traversing a time interface is also studied. If the wave-vector spectrum of a pulse mainly concentrates in the non-traveling-wave band, the pulse will be trapped with nearly fixed center while its intensity will grow rapidly. In addition, we propose an experimental scheme of using molecular fluid with external time-varying electric and magnetic fields both parallel to the direction of light to realize these phenomena in practice.

Experimental study of the mutual influence of fibre Faraday elements in a spun-fibre interferometer

An all-spun-fibre linear reflective interferometer with two linked Faraday fibre coils is studied. It is found experimentally that there is mutual influence of Faraday fibre coils in this interferometer. It manifests itself as an additional phase shift of the interferometer response, which depends on the circular birefringence induced by the Faraday effect in both coils. In addition, the interferometer contrast and magneto-optical sensitivity of one of the coils change. A probable physical mechanism of the discovered effect is the distributed coupling of orthogonal polarised waves in the fibre medium, which is caused by fibre bend in the coil.

Magnetic-field-induced rotation of light with orbital angular momentum

Light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) has attractive applications in the fields of precise optical measurements and high capacity optical communications. We study the rotation of a light beam propagating in warm 87Rb atomic vapor using a method based on magnetic-field-induced circular birefringence. The dependence of the rotation angle on the magnetic field makes it appropriate for weak magnetic field measurements. We quote a detailed theoretical description that agrees well with the experimental observations. The experiment shown here provides a method to measure the magnetic field intensity precisely and expands the application of OAM-carrying light. This technique has advantage in measurement of magnetic field weaker than 0.5 G, and the precision we achieved is 0.8 mG.

Optical Rotatory Dispersion of Poly(propylene oxide) in Benzene Solution Determined from Channeled Spectra

The proposed method of channeled spectrum employs the recorded channeled spectrum of an optical active polymer solution placed between two crossed polarizers. The approach allows the evaluation of the optical rotatory dispersion of poly(propylene oxide) in benzene. The specific rotation, circular birefringence, and dispersion parameter depend on the wavelengths of the maxima and minima from the channeled spectrum.

Laser autofluorescence polarimetry of optically anisotropic structures of biological tissues in cancer diagnostics

The results of a new physical study of polarization manifestations of laser autofluorescence of optically anisotropic structures in human female reproductive tissues are presented. A Mueller-matrix model of describing the complex anisotropy (linear and circular birefringence, linear and circular dichroism) of such biological layers is proposed. Interrelations between mechanisms of optical anisotropy and polarization manifestations of laser autofluorescence of histological layers of the uterine cervix tissue in different spectral regions are determined. Magnitudes and variation ranges of statistical moments from the first to the fourth order describing the distributions of azimuthally stable elements of Mueller matrices of autofluorescence in human female reproductive tissues in different physiological states are found. The informative value of the proposed method is determined and the differentiation of histological biopsy sections of benign (dysplasia) and malignant (adenocarcinoma) uterine cervix tumors is implemented for the first time.

Hybrid quantum-state joining and splitting assisted by quantum dots in one-side optical microcavities

Quantum state joining has been recently experimentally demonstrated [C. Vitelli et al., Nat. Photon. 7, 521 (2013)] which can transfer two input photonic qubits into a photonic ququart. Here, we revisit these processes from a hybrid point of view. By exploring the giant optical circular birefringence induced by quantum-dot spins in one-sided optical microcavities, we introduce some deterministic joining schemes including two quantum-dot spin joining, hybrid photon and quantum-dot spin joining, and two-photon joining. The input quantum information is represented by one photon with polarization and spatial mode degrees of freedom (DOFs). These schemes are also adapted to the inverse processes called quantum state splitting because all the joining procedures are unitary and do not require projection and feed-forward steps. The fused photon is convenient for realizing elementary logic gates such as the controlled-not (cnot) gate, swap gate, and Toffoli gate. These hybrid fusion and splitting schemes provide flexible synthesis of the quantum-dot spin and photon in quantum applications. The transmission superiority of photons and storage superiority of the quantum-dot spin may be combined for quantum network communication or quantum computations.